Maharashtra raises alarm on COVID-19 vaccine shortage

MUMBAI:

Maharashtra Vaccine ShortageThe state has raised alarm bells and asked the Centre to provide a fresh stock of vaccines following the recent COVID-19 spike.

Maharashtra estimates that its stock of 15.76 lakh doses of Covaxin and Covishield will be exhausted in three days. The state has now asked for a minimum of 40 lakh doses to meet the daily target of 4.5 lakh vaccinations.

Health officials said they had made multiple requests to the Centre to increase vaccine supply in the next ten days.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stated that the Centre has supplied 1.06 crore doses to Maharashtra so far, with 7.43 lakh more in the pipeline, and recorded consumption of 90.53 lakh doses.

Maharashtra has been immunising between 3.5 lakh and 4 lakh people daily and had vaccinated 85.6 lakh people. On Tuesday, 3.88 lakh people were vaccinated.

Maharashtra is currently the worst-hit state with almost 60 thousand cases, with a 60 per cent contribution to India's active caseload.

(Edited by Shankar Kumar Turha)

ALSO READ: PM Modi reiterates commitment to support research, innovation in healthcare on World Health Day